And even with that motivation and first-hand look at the possibilities, it took a couple months before I got over the inertia and finally took action!

My Fiverr Gigs

Initially I was cautious to put anything up for sale that would require my direct time involvement to deliver. After all, working for $4 (after Fiverr’s 20% cut) is not exactly a great way to get ahead in life.

The concept was simple. People would send me a link to their website and I would give my opinion on ways they could improve them.

Nothing too crazy. The videos took a few minutes to prep, and ran 5-7 minutes in length, plus another couple minutes to upload and deliver.

If I was cruising through them back-to-back, I could generate an effective hourly rate of around $24 an hour. Not amazing, but hey, it was an experiment.

I ended up doing a few dozen of these website audits over the last few months. Orders would trickle in and I would deliver.

Feedback from customers was good, it didn’t take a ton of time, and it was actually pretty fun.

I was earning $200-$400 per month with this little side hustle experiment.

Getting Featured on the Homepage

I woke up one morning last month and was surprised to find a dozen new orders in my inbox!

Hmm, the gig must have been recommended by someone with a big audience or featured somewhere prominent. The first place I checked was the Fiverr.com homepage and sure enough, there I was:

Now of course Fiverr doesn’t publish what it takes to get featured on the homepage, so consider what follows to be my direct observation and opinion.

According to Alexa, Fiverr is the 64th most popular site in the US, and the 131st most popular site globally.

So landing on the homepage is great exposure if you can get it.

With more than 3 million gigs competing for attention, it’s not easy to stand out. (However, compared with the number of sites indexed in Google for example, competition is relatively low.)

Sellers aren’t paying for placement; I’m sure an algorithm is partially responsible for deciding who gets on the homepage and who gets a featured listing, but I believe there is at least some manual approval process.

Here’s the criteria I think they use:

1. A unique offering with a (relatively) broad appeal.

On the homepage, Fiverr needs to showcase the breadth of services people can find on the site.

This is their first impression and they have to display a wide variety of offerings that appeal to mass segments of visitors.

2. Something that people might be surprised to get for $5.

A high-value offering is a must because it contributes directly to factor #3.

3. A proven high-converting offer.

Fiverr tracks a rolling 30-day conversion rate of each gig — meaning the percentage of people who view your offering who end up actually buying it.

A typical conversion rate on Fiverr might be between 5% and 10%. After my initial flood of orders and the homepage placement, my site audit gig was converting as high as 22%! (As you can see, it has since come down quite a bit.)

It stands to reason that Fiverr wants to feature the high-converting gigs because they don’t make any money until someone buys something.

Their homepage is undoubtedly a big “money page” for them, so they want to highlight the gigs that have a proven track record of converting browsers into buyers.

4. A higher average order value.

Similar to the conversion rate factor, a higher average order value makes your gig more likely to land on the homepage.

Even though Fiverr is known as the $5 marketplace, sellers are encouraged to offer relevant upsells, or gig extras, to boost their earnings — and Fiverr’s. (The company still takes a 20% cut on the extras.)

All else being equal, my guess is they are more likely to feature a gig with a $10 average order than one that never sells any extras. After all, Fiverr will make 2x as much.

The final criteria that makes my top 5 factors to get on the Fiverr homepage is a history of excellent feedback. You probably need to shoot as close to 100% positive reviews as you can, and on top of that, have a high percentage of customers leaving positive feedback vs. none at all.

Volume-wise, it doesn’t need to be anything unattainable. I had between 60 and 70 positive ratings when I was featured.

If Fiverr is only making a buck or two per order, their business is built on loyal, repeat customers. They’re not going to jeopardize their reputation by featuring gigs with questionable feedback on their homepage.

Below I’ll share a couple tips on how I ensure positive feedback and stop negatives in their tracks.

Other Expected Factors:

Your seller “Level.”

Fiverr sellers are rated newbie (no Level), Level 1, Level 2, and Top-Rated Seller. It is very rare for sellers lower than Level 2 to be featured on the homepage.

Quick Reference Guide to Fiverr Levels:

Level 1 – Your account is active for at least 30 days and you’ve made 10 sales.

Level 2 – You’ve made 50 orders in a 60 day period.

Top-Rated Seller – manually selected by Fiverr staff based on seniority, sales, feedback, and community leadership.

Based on what I see, straight-up digital deliveries are rarely featured. Instead Fiverr prefers to highlight gigs that require some sort of individualized input to deliver.

In other words, a pdf guide to Subject XYZ might be an excellent gig to offer, but probably won’t get you featured on the homepage.

The Hustle Factor

As the orders flooded my inbox at a record pace, I started to stress about having enough time to deliver them all.

To give myself some breathing room, I logged in and adjusted the promised delivery time from 3 days to 6 days.

Delivering all the orders and maintaining a high quality definitely took some time. It took a few days of hustling to dig myself out of the backlog.

It probably wasn’t the best hourly rate in the world, but it was fun. Especially when people ordered the gig extras, I got to put on my creative thinking cap and brainstorm how I would market each business.

Plus you never know who you’ll meet on Fiverr. I’ve made some interesting new connections for sure, including entrepreneurs from all around the world.

(Earlier this year, I was actually on an NBC-affiliate radio show after the co-host bought one of my gigs.)

And I got a cool case study blog post out of the deal.

The global reach of Fiverr is pretty awesome. Fiverr shows a map in your seller dashboard where you can see all the countries you’ve sold to, a metric they call “World Domination.” I’m currently at 19%!

The Aftermath

After the dust settled, I was eager to dive into the numbers and share this side hustle experiment with Side Hustle Nation.

(I was not on the homepage for the full 10 days; I was on almost continually the first few days, and then more intermittently toward the end of this streak.)

In total, the exposure generated 80 orders in 10 days, for a total of $1150 in revenue. After Fiverr’s cut, I cleared $920.

The average order value was $14.37.

The majority of revenue came from a minority of the customers; 25% of the customers generated 70% of the income. Not quite 80/20, but close!

32% of customers ordered at least one “gig extra.” I’m not sure what the Fiverr sitewide average is, but I felt like that was a pretty healthy percentage.

How to Set Yourself Up For Fiverr Success

Ready to get started as a Fiverr seller? Got a gig in mind? Here are my tips to set your account up for success from day one.

Clear and concise gig titles perform better. It’s difficult to fully convey the value of your gig in just a few words, so you should test out a couple different variations to see which one generates more interest or search volume.

Perhaps I should have tested the word “review” instead of the word “audit” for my gig, but I’ve found many Fiverr buyers are looking to buy fake reviews so I didn’t want to attract the wrong customers. Still, probably worth testing.

2. Detailed Description

Buyers should know exactly what they’re getting before they buy. This is your opportunity to sell your services and let customers know why they should do business with you.

If you’re getting a lot of questions asking for clarification or details, your description probably isn’t doing its job.

You can also use the description to promote and explain your gig extras in more detail.

Descriptions are limited to 1200 characters, which really isn’t very much so you have to be concise. Fiverr does allow you some freedom in formatting with bold font or italic font, larger font sizes, bulleted or numbered lists, and text highlighting.

Take advantage of some of these features to enhance your description.

3. Video and Images

Fiverr has released the statistic that gigs with a video description sell 220% more than those without. Because of that, a video is pretty much a requirement.

My video isn’t the highest quality material in the world; it’s just me talking into my webcam. I’d like to create a new video with better production quality to see if it has any impact on sales.

If you don’t have a video, make sure to at least take advantage of all 3 image slots with descriptive, high-resolution pictures of what you offer. Make sure the dimensions fit; currently 682 x 459.

4. Targeted Upsells

The upsells, or gig extras, is where Fiverr gets interesting. The more you Level Up, the more opportunity you have to add more and higher cost upsells.

The trick I’ve found is to offer a few different options that might be pertinent to your gig customers.

You can change these extras and their pricing at any time, so there’s no harm in testing different offers. Remember, the more you earn, the more Fiverr earns, meaning it’s in their best interest to have you succeed and make sales.

5. Ask for Feedback

From the front-end, Fiverr’s feedback system appears to use the familiar 5-star rating system. But as you dig deeper, you’ll find their feedback system is really just pass/fail; buyers can only rate a gig Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down.

Given that most people won’t leave feedback unless prompted, I’ve added a P.S. script to each of my delivery templates that asks buyers to leave a “thumbs up” if they found the gig valuable.

With that in place, nearly 80% of my customers have left a positive rating. (The other 20% didn’t leave a “thumbs down” — they just neglected to enter a rating at all.)

6. Offer a Guarantee

I also make sure to include a 100% money back guarantee on my gigs. I feel like that helps persuade buyers who are on the fence about ordering.

I’ve only had to implement it one time so far, when one buyer was not happy with my site review.

It’s amazing what people expect for $5…

After he gave me the thumbs down — out of the blue with no warning — I mentioned that all my gigs have a 100% money back guarantee, and offered to cancel the order.

Someone else’s super-popular gig, but w/ a high cancellation ratio.

When he accepted the cancellation, he got his refund and his negative rating disappeared.

However, this is something to be careful with, because the cancellation stats are publicly visible and can be a red flag both to buyers and to Fiverr. I imagine if too many buyers are backing out, they probably won’t feature your gig.

Your First Few Orders

On any new platform, finding your first customer can be tough. Nobody wants to take the risk on someone without any prior sales or feedback.

To overcome this, AnarchoFighter recommends asking 10 friends to buy your gig. If you give them each the $5, it will cost you a total of $10 to seed your profile with 10 positive ratings and give you some practice delivering your service.

($50 out and $40 in after Fiverr’s 20% cut leaves you with a net expense of $10.)

Pro Tip: If you sign up for Fiverr’s poorly-publicized affiliate program, you can actually earn moneyon the deal if your friends are new to Fiverr.

At press time, you could earn $12.75 per new customer who places their first order. Boom!

What Fiverr is Good For

Fiverr, as an established marketplace of buyers, is an excellent place to validate your ideas, products, and services.

You can quickly see if people are interested in your offer, and get immediate feedback. You might be selling for less than you’d ultimately like to, but you’re building your sales skills (sales copywriting, video pitch), and building a portfolio of (hopefully) positive feedback.

Plus, if you set your gigs up well, you can earn a healthy side hustle income.

What Fiverr is Not so Good For

You don’t want to get in the trap of racing to the bottom on price and spinning your wheels for $4 over the long haul.

What’s Next?

As one of the most popular sites in the world, you’ll have access to a huge volume of potential customers. Use it as a networking opportunity; you never know who’s viewing your stuff.

One thing I need to get better at is post-order follow-up.

You don’t get the buyer’s email address (and communicating with buyers via email is against the site’s terms of service), but you do get their Fiverr username and have the ability to message them on the Fiverr platform after the sale.

You can use this feature to follow-up, make sure they’re happy, encourage them to leave positive feedback, see if they have any questions, or promote your gig extras or other service offerings.

Some of the most valuable “intelligence” comes from these after-the-sale discussions. Customers will ask if you can help with problem ABC or if you offer service XYZ.

And if even if you don’t, you now know there’s a proven demand for it.

Your Turn

By now I hope you’re asking yourself, “What can I sell for $5?”

If you do get your gig set-up, feel free to drop it in the comments below, especially if it might be helpful to an audience of aspiring and part-time entrepreneurs.

Great advice for fiverr. I think a lot of those concepts work well for markets other than fiverr. The 100% guarantee seems almost standard now and one unhappy customer can cost you 10 lost customers if you don’t refund them.
Nice job!

Thanks Josh! Yeah it’s pretty much a no-brainer to offer the refund, although I’ve heard some crazy stories of customers getting all high and mighty and refusing to accept their $5 back. Thankfully that hasn’t happened yet!

Awesome post!
I suppose the obvious answer to this question is simply, “go look at the categories already on fiverr” but do you have any knowledge or insight into what might be the better categories for gigs? Obviously you have to go with something you can offer as well.

I was thinking a bit limited. My area is finance, but I’m not going on there to offer stock picks for example, wrong audience (I assume). But I forgot I play guitar and have also sung (and been told I have a radio voice), so that opens up some possibilities for voice over or musical work.

I just got wondering about which might be the better / more profitable / more opportunites for work categories?

Yeah buddy! I think you can check out the different categories and see what gigs are hot sellers. SEO, graphics, book covers, and writing are in high demand, but the good news is you’re allowed up to 20 different gigs to test and experiment with. Let me know how it goes!

Good for you! And way to be big enough to refund the money of the customer that wasn’t happy. I sell on ebay a lot, and you’re totally correct that it’s impossible to please everyone. It’s much better to lose a few bucks on the refund than to take the hit on your ratings.

Hey Dee, thanks for stopping by! It’s a bummer people would resort to the negative rating — or threaten it — just to save a few bucks. On eBay one time a buyer put up a fit that the back of whatever I was selling wasn’t in perfect condition … and I had no way of knowing because I’d already shipped in and never thought to take it out of the container to look or take a picture! Just had to take his word for it. But for the most part I don’t buyers are trying to work the system.

Thanks for sharing your experience Nick, and for all the great ideas. The thoughts and tips apply to many potential online projects. I’m sure a number of us will benefit from repeatedly referencing this experience and your success tips when considering how to sell services via a third party online.

I’ve been thinking about it for a while. I’ve got strong presentation skills and can help people organize a presentation pitch (theme, hook, general flow to maintain interest). I’ve gathered some resources and will likely put together some material this summer to help with quick turnaround on requests.
Right now I’m embarking on a different project for May: purging 500 items from my life, including selling many online. I’m prioritizing that over everything else because it’s long overdue.

Good stuff! I have never been creative enough to find something to sell on fiverr, but I have purchased from it twice. The first time I hired somebody to design a logo for my website. The second time I hired somebody to write a java calculator for me.

Hey Nick,
Congrats on this crazy success. I think you also shared some really worthwhile tips.
I think another thing to consider when trying to get featured or appear on the front page is to create a gig that is themed.
For example, Mother’s Day is coming up. A good idea would be to create a Mother’s Day gig like “I will design a Mother’s Day card for you to print” kind of thing. Fiverr LOVES this. Especially if you have a gig video and mention the gig is exclusive to Fiverr. They seem to eat this up.

Hey Buddy – Good stuff. You’re right on the money. I started a Virtual Assistant company a year ago, and wish I had heard about you sooner. I purchased your book on Amazon and even though I’m highly experienced in Virtual Assistants and outsourcing being in the business of it – there were some good take-aways from it. Also launched our VA Staffer business on Fiverr and has had a lot of success. Great Market – Good Tips – Good Guy. PS. Saw you got tweeted by Fiverr just now – they approve!

Hi there, Nick. My first time reading your blog! Excellent post! I use fiverr.com on an average of 8 times a month… different gigs, different sellers. I get little things done on a bootstrap budget. I’ve also had a nice, functional website built for $25. I’ve even videos edited (still trying to find the perfect fiverr for that job).

You’ve inspired me to consider putting some of my own gigs up. I provide legal services in a very specialized area of law and want to answer questions that may lead to an upsale. Haven’t yet figured it out but was very inspired today to see someone (on the homepage) answering legal questions. (I guess you must think “times are rough” when an attorney chooses fiverr :)…?) But, I’m looking to build multiple streams and never too good to make money and provide a good service to those who need it!
Thanks for the informative info. I’m going to subscribe. Good stuff!

Thanks for the great article, some awesome insight! I learned of a couple new resources too. Here is my gig: http://fivr.co/feature – a gig directed at other fiverr sellers, so check it out new sellers!

They disabled my account saying buyers who ordered my gig were using fraudulent activities or something. They hold my earnings 490$ and if you sum up my upcoming earnings it will become 700$ in next 10 days. Cant explain you how I am feeling. I’ve had used other platforms never happened this kind of thing, feeling like if someone robbed me.

Whoa that’s not cool! I’ve heard a couple horror stories like this and hope it gets worked out soon. Their support can be pretty slow — I guess the hedge in the future would be to withdraw to PayPal early and often!

I’ve been trying to create my account on fiverr with my blackberry 9900 but the loging will keep on loading till the time goes…I want to ask whether I. Can use my mobile phone to create my account or not…

Hi Nick,
Thanks for your great post. I want to sell social media marketing services. But I noticed that some people get gig in recommendation page after creating their gig. i tried it many times, but didn’t get it success. Have any tips to get gig in recommendation page, because without recommendation page I din’t get any orders.

Killer content – I found you as I was writing a blog about Fiverr – both as a buyer and now I’ve started an experiment (much like yourself) to experience the selling side. Much more tricky simply due to the massive number on Fiverr creating gigs! Nevertheless, I landed a gig the second day out, and I’m probably going to use your recommendation on getting some friends to buy a gig for $5 to get that traffic rolling. Anyway, super job on the content and I learned some tips about what I need to do as I try the selling side of Fiverr. Oh, I had great results as a buyer – excellent value and quality, and of course, I left extra money in the kitty for those great jobs. Thanks for your post…keep up the good writing!

I almost never follow up on comments, but I had to on this one. I not only have had pretty good success (about 30 gigs now), but have learned to “standardize” some of my responses to cover a lot of ground and minimize wasted time. My goal was to cover the cost of some software I use in my gig, and that was done quickly. Much more important, however, was I’ve made some great new contacts that could lead to business outside of the Fiverr arena – which really was one of my goals in doing Fiverr in the first place. So, along with about $150 in earnings in several weeks, the other activity and business possibilities outside of Fiverr is really a great benefit. Morale of the story – give fantastic content and over deliver on Fiverr, and reap those benefits. Thanks again for the original article that spurred me into action and more business!

Nick, right NOW I’m in the middle of a side hustle that’s very public. I made the claim that I could take $0 and make $1,00 0 in 30 days or less. Actually I’ve done this before in a variety of niches with people looking over my shoulder, but never with Fiverr… and that happens to be this month’s Challenge.

Glad I read the wisdom and tips you have printed here. Right this very second I’m going over to Fiverr to update my Gig and offer 2-3 more based on what I stumbled onto in your site.

Plus I’ll be back to read more! I had just googled “fiverr popularity” and landed here. It seems that we write about a lot of the same things. Happy about what you are doing here. People need to know that with a little hustle they can do very well in this nation/world of ours.

Nick, I’m kinda late on seeing this post but hot dam it’s sick! Very Very thorough. Definitely gets the wheels turning on how to come up with side hustles. Many thanks for putting this up. I may just have to try out a gig, sounds fun!

Great article! I have started using Fiverr to offer various services such as genuine 5 star reviews, Facebook report and analysis, and image editing. Hopefully with hard work and some of your tips I can get featured on the homepage!

Great article, Nick. I just discovered your site last week, and spending my lunch hour looking through some of your “Greatest Hits” from the sidebar. This one caught my eye because I’ve been thinking for awhile about trying some gigs on Fiverr, but haven’t yet come up with anything I feel fits my strengths but would work at a $5 entry. Great tips here to reflect on, which I think will help me rethink my potential gigs and find one (or more) to try.

Thanks for share wonderful post. I want to start Virtual Assistant Services in Fiverr. I have created profile already but does not get any orders so far. What i need to do get top in search results. Have you any tips to increase my rank in Fiverr.

Hey Nick – awesome post!
Can I create a lecture about your front page feature for my up coming course on Fiverr and quote you as a great example of how to feature on the main page!
Free coupon? ;)
Best regards
John

Well DONE!
This is a really helpful article for all the Freelancers around the world and especially for the newbies.
I’m working on fiverr for the last 2 years, Writing is my niche and I’m glad to see your compiled wordings which is a noteworthy thing!
You will get many more in life if you will keep helping others. All the BEST :)

Thank you for sharing your experience and expertise on how to be successful in Fiverr. I discovered Fiverr almost by accident and it’s been wonderful to see some extra income come in each and every month with out much effort. Also, I’ve gotten a small taste of what it’s like to have your gig explode with orders and that has been fun too! I look forward to implementing your strategies and boosting my sales. Below, I’ve included one of my favorite gigs.

Thats is really interesting.. Cant tell how pumpt up I am about my side gigs… the hustle is on…Just to ask tho… was this site created from a wordpress platform? I am still in the process of setting up my website….

Some great advice, thank you so much.
I have just recently set up my gig and am still modifying, but if you can give me any advice on my gig page set up, that would be great I understand if your too busy.

Hello nick.
Today i am 1 month old on fiverr and very first month i am level 1 seller.
But the main thing is i got 5 orders naturally and and i buy 5 reviews.
And now i am level 1
Is it fime or will it harm my sells?

Nick,
Great post explaining the strategy as well as the tactics. And I appreciate the perspective that for many gigs full time still may not make sense for some, but the side benefits and creativity offer great opportunities. It is amazing how many look at opportunities and go – ‘$5 will never make me enough money’.

I was curious what your upsells were and how much time they took you to fullfil.

Thanks Nick! I really enjoyed reading this. A lot of useful information, I will adopt these advice.
I just wondering if real word jobs can work on Fiverr. I am a technology consultant in the real-world and recently published my services. You can check it out if you like https://www.fiverr.com/emilalek/be-your-technology-consultant
Thanks!

Hey Nick,
I have been able to create my own gig on fiverr, after reading through your informative, comprehensive case study article. Thanks for your help and concerned to see that others succeed online.

FACT is Keywords should always be your #1 priority. The most important aspect of SEO is KW research. In addition, having relevant KWs in your titles or articles can get you to the top of Google over more “authoritative sites”; all because of keyword relevancy.

It is nice to have a unique gig to sell but what if someone doesn’t have a unique gig like mine here,https://www.fiverr.com/s2/e23883d2c0 many of the other seller already have as well. However, i have managed to sell one order and another in a queue, i am still worried about the low rate i have to offer. I’m new to fiverr, any suggestions or tips would be very helpful.

Such an educative write up.I will advise anyone who really want to make money online to take fiverr very serious and treat is as a business. If you need an Ebook cover and a 3D version,a Flyer or any Photoshop work kindly check out my gig https://goo.gl/sEBCpe

My Gig Got promoted to Fiverr home page and I’m receiving 20 plus orders on daily basis :) Even though I’m first level seller (I do android apps) with less than 40 reviews on total. So my advice is to keep your buyers happy and always provide them quality work. This will automatically boost your business as Fiverr ask for feedback from buyers once order is complete other than just review. So if your buyer is happy with your work, you’re going in right direction. good luck

That is one awesome post! Thanks so much! The information is really helpful and easy to understand
If you want to support me: Translator, Skincare Formulas, Meal Planning, Business Reviews https://www.fiverr.com/asenaki

great work! I have found recently that when talking to my small business SEO clients, it’s important that I clarify that search engines rank web pages and not websites. I find it helps get the point across for creating content for the site on a regular basis.

This post is so much motivationa.
And this website is too good.
Fiverr release have the new version of Fiverr Mobile App.
Find it here for free. (http:www.apkappsfree.com)
Also visit my Fiverr and Freelancer Profile :
Fiverr/samiulhkhan
Freelancer/samiulhk

I wanted to share an update from our end and what it is like being a fiverr pro seller. Long-gone are the days of selling volume $5 gigs. We are average almost 10 orders of magnitude. Would love to hear your feedback on this side hustle that turned into a full-time hustle.

I’m glad to hear of this amazing news. One thing I like is affiliating myself with down to earth side hustlers like yourself, Ryan Robinson, Marie Forleo, Michelle Schroeder-Gardner, Ryan Biddulph, John Chow, Timothy Sykes, and others who understand struggle and didn’t come from money. I was born in a middle class neighborhood in Brooklyn to working parents and always had the entrepreneur spirit in me from a kid. I was a former newspaper boy for the New York post (if I can remember of the NY Daily news). So I know what struggle and hard work is like. I’m very proud of you Nick for staying focused in your side hustle and being an inspiration to myself and others. I hope to see a new blog from you soon cause I’ve been patiently waiting. :-)